thePeanutBloggery

Welcome to the first of a five four night series that is The Peanut Awards, where we Peanuts honor the television that kept us thoroughly entertained over the past year. Despite the trigger-happy networks, it was an impressive season, which made for some difficult decisions. However, the votes were certified by my friend who works at PricewaterhouseCoopers, so everyone here is speaking to each other again.

We couldn’t afford a famous comedian to emcee our awards, so we’ll dive right in.

The Nominees for Best Actor in a Comedy are

• Alec Baldwin for “30 Rock”
• Steve Carell for “The Office”
• Neil Patrick Harris for “How I Met Your Mother”
• Jeremy Piven for “Entourage “

And the winner is…Neil Patrick Harris.

While all four actors are outstanding, we were won over by NPH’s callous and crass yet somehow warm and vulnerable Barney. Hysterical moments like losing slap bet, losing the use of his legs on the subway, and completely winning on “The Price is Right” forced us to contemplate whether “Dougie Howser” wasn’t a better show than we remember.

The Nominees for Best Actress in a Comedy are

• Sarah Chalk for “Scrubs”
• America Ferrera for “Ugly Betty”
• Tina Fey for “30 Rock”
• Becki Newton for “Ugly Betty”

And the winner is…America Ferrera.

What could have turned out to be an over-played visual joke has turned into the funniest and most genuine performances in television comedy history (perhaps the hour-long format allows for the extra depth). In fact, we forgot early on what about Betty was ugly.

The Nominees for Best Actor in a Drama are

• Kyle Chandler for “Friday Night Lights”
• T.R. Knight for “Grey’s Anatomy”
• Terry O’Quinn for “Lost”
• Matthew Perry for “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip”

And the winner is…Kyle Chandler.

Not unlike another easy-on-the-eyes actor who went on to be a big movie star, Kyle Chandler’s television credits are endless. Yet it took him stepping into this role where his face isn’t the prettiest in the cast for us to realize what an outstanding actor he is.

The Nominees for Best Actress in a Drama are

• Jennifer Beals for “The L Word”
• Connie Britton for “Friday Night Lights”
• Anne Heche for “Men in Trees”
• Katherine Heigl for “Grey’s Anatomy”

And the winner is…Katherine Heigl.

Katherine is having a good week. Not only is her movie Knocked Up cleaning up at the box office, but her objectionable co-star Isiah Washington has been fired from “Grey’s Anatomy”, and she’s now the proud recipient of a Peanut Award. Hopefully this will help her out in those salary negotiations.